The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Harare

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is ready to contest an election run-off after results showed he was beaten in the first round by the opposition leader, a senior official from his party said Friday. "The president accepts the result as announced and is offering himself for election in the pending presidential run-off," senior cabinet minister Emmerson Mnangagwa told a press conference in Harare. Official results released Friday by the electoral commission showed that Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai won 47.9 percent against 43.2 percent for the 84-year-old Mugabe in the first round on March 29.Meanwhile, Zimbabwe came under mounting pressure Saturday after the long-delayed result of a contentious presidential poll showed Morgan Tsvangirai trouncing Robert Mugabe but falling short of an absolute majority.

As Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) rejected the official result showing their leader winning 47.9 percent against Mugabe's 43.2 percent, world capitals called for a credible run-off and an halt to poll violence.

The European Commission spokeswoman underscored the need for "free and fair second round that is conducted in a proper manner."

"We are therefore calling for international observers from the moment this process starts," she told AFP.

Canadian Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier called the results of the March 29 presidential vote "contested," and said Tsvangirai had "a clear lead" over Mugabe, in power since 1980 when Zimbabwe gained independence from Britain.

Zimbabwe's electoral commission on Friday said in the absence of an absolute majority by Tsvangirai, there should be a run-off on a date yet to be announced.

In Washington, a State Department spokesman said the results had "rather serious credibility problems" and doubted a run-off would be free and fair.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Mugabe had "clearly lost," adding: "His campaign of violence and intimidation over the last month must stop immediately."

US-based rights watchdog Human Rights Watch echoed the call.

"Since the elections, the ruling ZANU-PF party, the army and so-called war veterans have conducted a brutal state-sponsored campaign of violence, torture and intimidation against MDC activists and supporters," it said.

"The long delay in announcing the results of the presidential elections and the government's politically motivated arrests of more than 100 presiding election officers around the country raises serious questions about the official tally."